Estate Division in Saudi Arabia: By Agreement or Through the Court
Official sources cited: 9
On this page
Once the heirs are determined and the estate inventoried, the estate is divided: the heirs end their co-ownership of what remains of the estate after the prior rights, each taking a separated share or a share of the price of what is sold. Division can happen by agreement, or through the court where there is a dispute and in cases the law specifies. This guide covers the legal framework for both routes.
What Is Divided, and in What Order
Under the Personal Status Law, the estate is the property and financial rights a person leaves after death (Article 197). Not everything the deceased left is divided straight away. Rights over the estate are ranked in this order: the reasonable costs of preparing and burying the deceased; then the debts, with those attached to a specific asset of the estate paid first; then the will; and then what remains is divided among the heirs (Article 198).
A will is carried out if it does not exceed one third of the estate; any amount above one third depends on the heirs' consent and takes effect to the extent of the shares of the heirs who consent (Article 190). A will in favor of an heir takes effect only if the other heirs approve it after the death, and if only some approve, it takes effect within their shares (Article 179).
Division by Agreement
Before taking the agreed route: where the estate involves a dispute, an endowment share or a will, or an heir is a minor or absent, its division falls within the jurisdiction of the personal status courts (Article 33 of the Law of Civil Procedure), covered under Division Through the Court below.
The Civil Transactions Law governs co-ownership, where several people own something without each one's share being separated (Article 619). If all the co-owners agree to divide, the division is valid even if it reduces the property's use or value (Article 626).
The Ministry of Justice offers an agreed estate division service on the Estates platform, which it describes as distributing the deceased's funds and assets among the heirs according to their shari'a shares and the applicable laws and regulations. Its published conditions include an heir determination document, an estate inventory document, assets that can be divided, and the applicant being one of the heirs. The platform shows a proposed division of cash assets; for each investment asset or property, the method of division (transfer or sale) is chosen under the approved rules and statutory conditions; the applicant then gives the acknowledgement and undertaking and confirms through the National Single Sign-On service (Nafath), and can follow the request's status and the other heirs' responses.
One form of agreement between heirs is takharuj: an agreement under which an heir gives up all or part of their share in the estate for specified consideration, from the estate or from elsewhere. It must be documented with the competent authority (Article 243 of the Personal Status Law). Takharuj is permitted where the estate is known to all the parties, or where it is unknown and cannot ordinarily be known within a short time, a period the court sets according to the nature, location and size of the property. If it could have been known within a short time and the takharuj was made before the parties knew the estate, a party who did not know the position may ask for it to be annulled (Article 244).
What to Know About an Agreed Division
- A creditor of any of the heirs may object to the division taking place without them. In an agreed division this is done by notifying all the co-owners of the objection, who must then join the creditor to the process, or the division does not bind that creditor. In every case, a creditor whose right is registered must be joined before the agreed division is concluded (Article 629 of the Civil Transactions Law).
- If a debt of the deceased comes to light after the estate is divided, each heir is liable for their portion of the debt within the share of the estate they received (Article 630).
- An agreed division may be set aside if a party proves they suffered unfair loss (lesion) from it. The claim must be brought within the year after the division, and the other party can avoid it being set aside by making up the loss in cash or in kind (Article 631). Periods under the Civil Transactions Law are counted by the Hijri calendar (Article 2).
Division Through the Court
Personal status courts hear inheritance and estate division, including real estate, where there is a dispute or the estate involves an endowment share, a will, a minor or an absent person (Article 33 of the Law of Civil Procedure).
A co-owner who wants to end co-ownership may ask the court to divide, unless an agreement or a legal provision prevents it, or the purpose the property serves shows it must remain jointly owned permanently (Article 627 of the Civil Transactions Law). If the property can be divided in kind without its use being lost or its value falling substantially, the court divides it; otherwise it orders a sale by auction. The co-owners are not obliged to sell at auction if the co-owner seeking division can sell their share for no less than its value would be if the whole property were sold. Where selling the share on its own would lower its value, the co-owners can avoid an auction by paying the co-owner seeking division the amount of that loss (Article 628).
While division proceedings are under way, the co-owners may agree on muhayaa, a division of the use of the property between them by time or by place in proportion to their shares, until the division is complete. If they cannot agree, the court may, at the request of one of them, require it (Articles 634 and 637).
Inherited Real Estate
Once a property has had its first registration, dispositions that create, transfer, change or end a real right in it are registered in the real estate register, including inheritance and real estate division, as are final judgments establishing any of these, and those rights are not effective and do not produce their judicial and administrative effects until registered (Article 13 of the Real Estate Registration Law).
Shares Reserved Before Final Division
Where an unborn child is among the heirs, the larger of the possible shares is reserved for it based on an approved medical report, the other heirs receive the lesser of their possible shares, and once the birth shows whether the child is alive, its sex and number, the rest of the estate is distributed among the heirs by share (Article 240 of the Personal Status Law). A missing heir's share is reserved on the assumption that they are alive: if they reappear alive they take it, and if they are judged to have died before the person they would inherit from, it goes back to the heirs entitled to it at the time of the judgment (Article 238).
This is general information based on the cited laws when this page was prepared. It may change, and it is not legal advice on a specific case.
Frequently asked questions
Before division, rights over the estate are ranked in this order: the reasonable costs of preparing and burying the deceased; then the debts, with those attached to a specific asset of the estate paid first; then the will; and then what remains is divided among the heirs (Article 198 of the Personal Status Law). A will is carried out if it does not exceed one third of the estate, and any amount above one third depends on the heirs' consent (Article 190), and a will in favor of an heir takes effect only if the other heirs approve it after the death (Article 179). If a debt of the deceased comes to light after the estate is divided, each heir is liable for their portion of the debt within the share of the estate they received (Article 630 of the Civil Transactions Law).
Division by mutual agreement is made by agreement among the co-owners, and if all of them agree to divide, the division is valid even if it reduces the property's use or value (Article 626 of the Civil Transactions Law), whereas in a court division, a co-owner who wants to end co-ownership may ask the court to divide, unless an agreement or a legal provision prevents it, or the purpose the property serves shows it must remain jointly owned permanently (Article 627). Personal status courts hear estate division, including real estate, where there is a dispute or the estate involves an endowment share, a will, a minor or an absent person (Article 33 of the Law of Civil Procedure). The Ministry of Justice offers an agreed estate division service on the Estates platform, and its published conditions include an heir determination document, an estate inventory document, assets that can be divided, and the applicant being one of the heirs.
Yes, through takharuj, an agreement under which an heir gives up all or part of their share in the estate for specified consideration, from the estate or from elsewhere, which must be documented with the competent authority (Article 243 of the Personal Status Law). Takharuj is permitted where the estate is known to all the parties, or where it is unknown and cannot ordinarily be known within a short time, a period the court sets according to the nature, location and size of the property (Article 244). If it could have been known within a short time and the takharuj was made before the parties knew the estate, a party who did not know the position may ask for it to be annulled (Article 244).
An heir who wants to end co-ownership may ask the court to divide, unless an agreement or a legal provision prevents it, or the purpose the property serves shows it must remain jointly owned permanently (Article 627 of the Civil Transactions Law), and personal status courts hear estate division where there is a dispute (Article 33 of the Law of Civil Procedure). If the property can be divided in kind without its use being lost or its value falling substantially, the court divides it; otherwise it orders a sale by auction (Article 628). While division proceedings are under way, the co-owners may agree on muhayaa, a division of the use of the property between them by time or by place in proportion to their shares until the division is complete, and if they cannot agree, the court may, at the request of one of them, require it (Articles 634 and 637).